20 Questions
by PersonWhoWritesStuff
Summary: Mickey over hears Mandy and Ian playing a game of 20 Questions.


Mickey awoke to the sound of obnoxious laughter coming from Mandy's room. It was much earlier than he had been planning on getting up, so of course the first thing he did was storm over to Mandy's room to shut her, and who he assumed to be Lip, up.

As soon as he got to the door, however, he realized that the laughter wasn't Lip's, but Ian's. Ian hadn't been over to the Milkovich's just to hang out with Mandy in a long time, so it was kind of weird to hear. It actually made Mickey stop and just listen in.

"How come you never come you never come over just to hang out with me anymore?" Mandy asked.

Right away, Mickey could tell she was high.

"Uh, maybe because you only ever invite _Lip_ over."

Mandy started laughing.

"I mean, I thought _I _was your boyfriend!"

"Well, I don't know how to say this, Ian, but I've been sleeping with other guys…"

"Yeah… me too."

They both burst out laughing and Mickey rolled his eyes.

"Yeah by the way when are you going to tell me who your guy is?"

"Shut up," Ian muttered.

"No I'm serious!" Mandy insisted, "You tell me who all the guys you sleep with are, but not this one guy you've been seeing for forever now!"

Mickey raised his eyebrows and leaned in closer.

"I'm not telling you," Ian laughed, "so just forget it."

"Come on! What if I guess?"

There was silence for a second, before Ian said, "You won't be able to guess."

"You have to let me try at least!"

Ian didn't answer.

"I know!" Mandy said, "We'll play 20 questions!"

"Come on, why do you need to know so bad?"

"Because _you_ like him and _I'm_ your best friend! I have to approve of him!"

Ian laughed again, and Mickey could practically see him rolling his eyes. "Okay, fine, 20 questions…"

Mickey held in a groan. He knew Mandy wouldn't ever be able to guess that Ian was talking about him, but he was still wary of what Ian would say about him.

"Okay…" Mandy hesitated, "Uh… oh! Is he tall?"

There was a long pause and Mickey rolled his eyes. It didn't usually bug him that he wasn't exactly the tallest guy, but that was because people usually didn't say anything. If they did, they usually weren't able to say much before Mickey's fist met their face.

"Uh… well he's not… he's shorter than me so…"

"So not really?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay… um… does he go to our school?"

"He used to, doesn't anymore."

"Is he skinny?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like you, remember? When we first became friends. You were really skinny."

Ian laughed, "No he's not skinny."

"So is he fat?"

"No, he's not fat," he laughed some more, "He's muscly, alright? He's really muscly."

Without really realizing it, Mickey looked down at his arms. He even started flexing one of them. He stopped as soon as he saw what he was doing.

"Is he… friendly?" Mandy then asked.

"Not… no, not really."

Mickey snorted quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"He's just not generally friendly… I mean, he's just not the kind of person who's gonna smile and ask you about your day."

"Okay… I guess that's not bad. What about how he looks? Is he good-looking?"

"Well, yeah," Ian answered right away.

Mickey actually smirked.

"I mean is he, like, perfect hair, perfect teeth, tan, swimsuit model type?"

Ian snorted, "He's not a freaking Ken doll! He's actually from this neighborhood, you know?"

"So? There are plenty of guys around who could be a swimsuit model."

"He's just not that _type_."

"I get it," Mandy said, "he's a butter-face."

There was a sound of movement on the bed, and Ian said, with a laugh, "He's not a _butter-face _!" Mickey guessed Ian moved over to hit her or something, "He's just not a Ken doll."

"Alright, alright. Does he dress nicely, then?"

"He dresses like anyone would from around here."

"Yeah, but does he dress like you or Lip… or more like one of _my_ brothers?"

Mickey held his breath. He had to keep telling himself that Mandy _didn't know_.

"Uh… probably more like one of your brothers."

"Sounds like a winner…"

Mickey finally let out his breath. Leave it to Mandy to completely miss what was right in front of her.

"Is he smart?" Was her next question.

Mickey rolled his eyes. He knew what the answer to that one would be.

"I don't know…" Ian answered.

"You don't know?"

"I mean, he's street smart, obviously, but I don't know about if he's school smart. I think he's good at math…"

Mickey raised his eyebrows. He was surprised. He actually was pretty good with math, but most people didn't know that.

"Here's a good one," Mandy then said, "Do I _know_ him?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure you do."

"Has he ever slept with a girl before?"

"Yes."

"Have _I_ ever-?"

"No!" Ian practically yelled.

"Why? Would that be weird?"

"If you slept him? Yeah! That'd be-that'd be pretty weird…"

"Why, though? If he slept with other girls…?"

"It'd just be-I mean he's definitely _not_ your type-plus it'd be weird if, you know, we slept with the same guy, don't you think?"

"I guess…"

Mickey tried not to gag.

"Is he a good kisser?"

Mickey leaned closer to the door. Neither of them had brought up the kiss since it happened, but he'd actually been pretty curious about what Ian thought about it. He would never ask, and Ian was too afraid to bring it up.

Ian didn't answer for a long time, and Mickey was starting to feel a little anxious.

"We actually only kissed once."

"Really?" Mandy sounded shocked, "Just once?"

"Yeah… he's not really… into kissing. Mostly just fucking."

"Oh… well, how was the one kiss, then?"

"It was…"

Mickey was tapping his thigh with annoyance.

"It was pretty good, but, it was just like a peck, you know? It barely lasted a second."

"Did you kiss him, or did he kiss you?"

"He kissed me… why?"

"Well, I mean, this is the same guy who you thought hated you a just a few weeks ago, right?" She sounded smug.

"Yeah…"

"So he obviously doesn't hate you. He probably really likes you, actually."

"You think so?"

Mickey rolled his eyes. He definitely didn't _hate_ Ian, but he had no idea how to get Ian to see that, especially if kissing him barely worked.

"Why would he kiss you if he didn't like you?"

"I guess."

"Okay, next question… Does he buy you things?"

"Ha, no."

"So what makes him better than the old guys you fuck?"

"I don't know," he answered, "he just is."

"You know, I really don't see it." Mandy said, "I mean, based on everything so far, he doesn't seem so great."

"Well he is… kinda. I mean, I don't know, you ever like someone without really knowing why?"

"Not really…"

"Well I have. How many questions are we at now?"

"Fourteen. Hmm… does he have any tattoos or piercings?"

"No piercings. He does have tattoos."

"Something cool?"

"Not really."

Mickey scowled and looked down at his knuckles. _Fuckin' Gallagher_.

"Is he our age? Or is he old like Kash or Jimmy's dad?"

"He's our age, okay?"

"Okay. Well that's good-that means no one's going to jail for being a sexual predator."

"Fuck you," Ian laughed, "Do you want your last four questions or not?"

"Fine. What color eyes does he have?"

"Blue."

"Ooh, are they pretty?"

"I don't know… they're eyes."

"Ugh for a gay guy, you really are hard to talk to about guys."

"Sorry… Last two questions?"

"No! Asking if his eyes were pretty doesn't count…"

"Fine, last _three_ questions?"

"Does he have a job?"

"Yes."

"Is he violent?"

"He… can be. Only if something really pisses him off though."

"I guess that's not bad…"

"No. I mean, it's kind of like in a protective way, I guess. Like he'd beat someone up if they messed with a family member."

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

"So you wanna try to guess who it is, or just ask your last question?" Ian finally asked.

"I have no clue," Mandy answered, "but I do have one last question."

"Yeah?"

Mandy hesitated, before asking, "Do you love him?"

Mickey suddenly felt his heart race, and he wasn't quite sure why, but he knew he suddenly hated the question. He'd rather have heard Mandy ask if the guy's name rhymed with "Icky Ilkovich" than that.

Ian was silent for what felt like forever, but Mickey then decided he didn't want to hear the answer. He moved into the kitchen as quickly and quietly as he could, and made as much noise as he could once he was in there. Anything so he wouldn't be able to hear the conversation in the other room.

He pretended he had just woke up, and didn't listen in on any conversation. He wasn't even sure why he did it. If Gallagher had said any of those things to his face, he probably would've punched him in the shoulder, or kicked him in the leg-nothing hard enough to really hurt him-and then stormed off. But for some reason he just couldn't stop listening.

He was debating on whether or not he should tell Gallagher later on that he overheard the conversation, just so he could still react the way he wanted to. Of course, Ian would probably somehow flip it, and make fun of Mickey for eavesdropping.

He sat down at the table with a box of cereal. A few minutes later he heard the same loud laughter coming from Mandy's room, and he knew they had probably changed the topic of their conversation.

Mandy walked into the kitchen a second later, grabbing some chips and a couple beers.

"How long have you been up?" She asked him.

"Just since you and whoever started laughing so fucking loud."

Mandy smirked. "It's Ian in there."

"Well tell him he cackles like a fucking girl." Mickey sneered.

"Sure," Mandy replied sarcastically walking back into her room.


End file.
